Happy Birthday America

Our day started off pouring down rain. Blake ran a 5K, in the rain, and we stopped by to see if we could catch his results but it was impossible to hold Mason and an umbrella in the wind, so we waited for him at home! The rain also meant that the neighborhood parade was canceled. It let up for a little bit so Braden on his bike, Mason in his stroller and our neighbors, Will on his bike, Sabrina carrying an umbrella for me, while Mark with his arm in a sling from shoulder surgery, and her two sisters helped the boys on their bikes, (do you have the mental picture yet, for anyone watching I'm sure we looked like a parade) made it one block before the rain hit again and we headed back home. We had to at least try for Will and Braden, their hearts were set on going!

The rain cleared and the sun came out just in time for us to head to a cook-out at 3. Lots of fun for everyone! They had a pool, but we also took one of our kiddie pools, which Mason and some of the other little guy enjoyed, but Mason had no fear of the "big" pool. He attempted to walk right off the edge. They also had a huge blow up slide that kept the big kids very busy!



Last year we joined the Wixson's in setting off a few fireworks, and Braden did NOT FORGET! He asked all day long if he could get some fireworks, for America's birthday. He informed me that there used to be 13 states and now there are 50. I'm so excited for him to start kindergarten.
Because he was on his best behavior at the cook-out, we stopped and bought $7 of the most harmless fireworks we could find. Smoke bombs, black snakes, and snappers. He and Will were thrilled to watch Blake ignite these in our driveway.



He could see a few of the "big ones" from our porch and I let him watch for one more before getting ready for bed.


As we finished our fireworks show, there were these beautiful clouds in the sky, they were almost glowing. This was about 8:30 pm.